1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data and graphic presentations. More particularly, the present invention relates to Flash applications with distributed objects.
2. Background Art
The Flash platform is popular for rich multimedia Internet applications, with high browser penetration rates and availability on most major hardware and operating systems. Users can easily run Flash applications from a wide variety of devices, from personal computers to mobile phones and videogame consoles. Increasingly, modern Flash applications are using distributed objects to offer users a shared online context between users and servers. As a result, for example, in virtual communities and online game worlds, users can affect persistent changes on other users. For example, users can talk to each other, trade items, team up into parties, and perform other interactions. Additionally, due to the easy accessibility of the Flash platform, users can access these online communities almost anywhere, whether at home, at the office, in an Internet café, or at an airport terminal.
However, interactivity is restricted to devices that can communicate directly with the Flash application. Thus, human input devices are limited to traditional keyboards, pointing devices such as computer mice, web cameras, and other devices with direct hardware support within Flash. Additionally, output from the Flash application is typically limited to audiovisual content played on the system executing the Flash application. Thus, features like vibration, movement of physical objects, and audiovisual playback on a separate device are difficult to support within a Flash application.
While peripherals directly connectable to Flash may be appropriate for traditional applications, more innovative ways to interact with online games and communities may require new hardware support not implemented in Flash. Although such new hardware may be easily supported by standalone hardware or software, users would prefer a solution with the least amount of technical hassle. Flash applications can be conveniently accessed over the Internet and Flash environments are typically preinstalled or easily obtainable in many systems, allowing users to avoid the hassle of using dedicated gaming hardware or installing additional game software, which may be especially impractical within a public context. A user can therefore access the same online account from home, at the office, or during travel thanks to the easy availability of the Flash platform. However, the Flash platform only provides limited support for direct hardware access, limiting the ways in which users can interact with Flash applications.
Accordingly, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by providing a way for a user to interact with the widely accessible Flash platform to provide an interactive experience in a shared online environment, breaking through the current limitations of directly addressable hardware within Flash applications.